Minneapolis / St. Paul Music Blog

Jamie Hook's account of three days with Minneapolis animal control officers in the new Rake makes a nice companion piece to the latest (and greatest) novel by D.C. journalist (and writer on HBO's The Wire) George P. Pelecanos, Drama City, about a former gangster-turned-dogcatcher who thinks that some people, like some dogs, are beyond saving. (He hopes he's not one of those people.) It's only natural for the comparison between real humans and real animals to generate parallels and metaphors, just as the literature of Animal Farm and Watership Down makes you take a second look at livestock and rabbits (both horses and bunnies can be seen in downtown Minneapolis). I've mentioned before that Jane Goodall's Wild Chimpanzees remains the best film in years about war. But now the Humane Society and its "non-lethal" counterparts have descended on a region where many hurricane evacuees have said (again and again) that the authorities "treated us like animals." People also became animals, some say. Others found or lost actual animals they loved, while dogs were used to attack the living and sniff out the dead...

Email from Kruddler bassist Tony Zaccardi: "We are having a benefit for our good friend Lucinda Teasley who was in a terrible car accident this summer. She is now paralyzed from the neck down. She somehow remains in good spirits! We are trying to raise some $$ to help her keep her house, and afford medical bills of the likes I hope to never see. Lucinda has been in the service industry in these here Twin Cities for a very long time. I have never met a bartender or waitress with insurance! We will be having a silent auction for guitars, beer stuff, all kinds of cool stuff, as well as food. There will be music from Alan Sparhawk (Low), Rich Mattson (Ol' Yeller), Alicia Corbett, Baby Grant Johnson, and MANY more. This will be a great chance to see some good music, eat some great food, and show your support for a great person." SATURDAY OCTOBER 1ST 12:00 NOON, GRUMPYS Bar, 2200 4th Street NE, Mpls, MN 55418, 612.789.7429.

Garrison Keillor reviews "Lovesick Blues," the new Hank Williams bio by Paul Hemphill in Sunday's New York Times. Sounds like a good read.

My two cents: Hemphill is a fine writer and simpatico author for this project, having grown up in Birmingham, Alabama (his memoir, "Leaving Birmingham," was nominated for a Pulitzer), and previously written the self-explanatory "The Nashville Sound." I know him best for his sports novel, "Nobody's Hero," and "The Ballad of Little River," his journalistic account of the torching of a black church by white teens.

Jodie Foster's latest hit movie, 'Flightplan,' has flight attendants heading to the exits nearest their seats. Three flight attendant groups are calling for a boycott of the movie (reviewed by David Ng in this week's City Pages) claiming that the depictions of a flight attendant and an air marshal are outrageous and disrespectful. Apparently, flight attendants are unaware of something in our society called "fiction," an imaginative creation or a pretense that does not represent actuality but has been invented for the purposes of entertainment. Corey Caldwell, a spokeswoman for the Assn. of Flight Attendants, states, "There has to be a layer of trust between the passengers and the crew, to ensure good communication during times of emergency, and a film like this undermines that trust." If the Chicken Cordon Bleu hasn't underminded the trust, nothing will.

TiVo the premiere of "Veronica Mars" tonight and tune into PBS (TPT 2) at 8 p.m. for "Get Up, Stand Up: The Story of Pop and Protest," hosted by Chuck D. The NYT is calling the PBS documentary one of the most daring programs in the channel's recent history. Chronicling protest music and voices of dissent from Leadbelly to Vietnam folk songs to Chumbawamba's supposed-rally cry "Tubthumping" and everything in between, the doc sheds a spotlight on music's historical impact and influence on the international battle for peace and equality. The Strib, meanwhile, sniffs and says the "project is tainted by the lack of conservative representation." Which, really, is like complaining that there are too few men in the National Organization for Women.

Citypages.com is for Minnesota music buffs today, if you've been able to get on the site (there were server problems until a few minutes ago). Picked to Click XV actually features ten articles on the Top Ten most-voted-for new bands (Brother and Sister's Top 5 lists are a highlight), along with a complete set of ballots. If you're wondering who all the previous winners were, I posted all of them in August.) Check out the reactions at MNSpeak.com and some at TCPunk.com. You can also read my belated Minnesota Music Awards review, though for a broader view, David de Young has photos as well as links to everyone else's reviews. Thursday update: Here's a complete list of "Minnies" winners from this year. Here's more about today's Bob Mould interview in City Pages. Photo (click to enlarge): Stnnng (pronounced "Stnnngggg" around the City Pages offices) at the Minnesota Music Awards, photographed by Lindsey Thomas.

"Chris Curtin, general manager and vice president of the Muppets Holding Company, said the Disney-owned venture also is developing an 'American Idol'-style 'reality' TV series featuring Kermit and friends conducting a talent search 'for the next Muppet,'" reports Yahoo. Muppetcentral.com broke the story earlier this month that America's Next Muppet would be slated for Spring-Summer 2006. More pitches for Disney: Behind the Music: Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem, Gonzo's Gonzo Porn series, Fozzie Bear: Comedian, Muppets Gone Wild, Real World Muppets, etc. (Old magazine scan from Phrog.)

The new fall TV season thus far has felt more underwhelming than when NBC tried to re-create the Brit-sitcom Coupling with blow-up dolls that had no sense of comic timing. Yes, Seth Cohen has worn on every last nerve and Laguna Beach (Laguna Beach!) actually is a more entertaining show than the pseudo-soap it attempted to rip-off. The first few episodes of The O.C. have reminded us that plot lines can be sewn up in less than 40 minutes, and that whenever anyone is about to emerge from a month-long coma, they always warn us by tapping their index finger a few times. Meanwhile, NBC's much-hyped My Name is Earl feels too smart for primetime, but too banal and preachy to really gain a loyal cult following. And the once-brilliant Curb Your Enthusiasm now feels like it was written from a tired sitcom template: Larry David gets angry about [an issue]. Larry David tries to fix/deal with/meddle in [the issue]. In the end, [the issue] is resolved, but Larry David pays his dues because his meddling has caused a twisted karmic warp in the event cycle.

But there is one standout comedy that, like the British version of The Office, could serve to redefine the sitcom: Ricky Gervais's Extras (co-written by Stephen Merchant), has all of the uncomfortable situations and awkward pauses that made The Office a prototype for emerging comedy, as well humor so brilliantly dark and subversive it makes some of the jokes in The Aristocrats look benign. The first episode (airing Sunday nights on HBO) had Kate Winslet in a nun's outfit talking about masturbation against the backdrop of Nazi flags, and Gervais' character courting a woman, among the flags, while pretending to be a Catholic. But unlike the aforementioned disappointments, Extras is about more than the poorly delivered quips and one-liners: It's Gervais's willingness to explore what makes us uncomfortable, what we say when we think no one is listening, and what is forbidden and why that makes his shows so revolutionary. Too bad CBS isn't paying attention.

Spotted on a vehicle crossing the Hennepin Avenue bridge this afternoon: "My other ride is your mother."

The first-annual Ameriprise Financial Ivey awards went down Monday night, and the State Theatre's main floor was nearly full of members from all levels of the Twin Cities theater community. It's fair to say that there was some ambivalence

Don Adams, who played the inept secret agent Maxwell Smart in the 1960s sitcom "Get Smart," died yesterday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center of a lung infection. Adams jumped at the role after finding out Mel Brooks and Buck Henry had written the pilot. "Get Smart" ran for two years on NBC and two years on CBS before being cancelled as audiences grew tired of the rehashing of well-worn gags that plagued the sitcom. Fox actually revived the sitcom in 1995. It lasted seven episodes.

Adams was also known for his voice work, specifically as Tennessee Tuxedo from the "Underdog" show, and Inspector Gadget, the 1980s inept secret agent (ahem) cartoon character that spawned a feature film starring Matthew Broderick and a straight-to-DVD sequel featuring French Stewart in the title role. Adams also played Comet the Coach in the 1964 TV special "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer." Adams was 82.

Can the Flood Stud rescue nightly news?

Remember during the Gulf War in 1991 when everyone's mom seemed to have their Lycra leggings in a bunch over Bette Midler's "The Wind Beneath My Wings" and NBC's coiffed and copper-toned correspondent Arthur Kent, aka "The Scud Stud"? While gazing into the camera while bombs lit up his Italian safari jacket, one could imagine the Scud Stud had been unceremoniously plucked from an imaginary soap opera city and dropped among fiery scud missiles, all for the ladies to long for as they gorged on microwave popcorn and the first-ever televised war.

But that was a different disaster, a different era. America needs, needs a new father figure/sex symbol/empathetic figure to buoy our hearts. Enter Anderson Cooper. The Scud Stud's appeal has been easily outdone and usurped by CNN's Cooper, aka "The Coop," aka "The Flood Stud" (or so we like to call him), who offered compelling coverage of Katrina and the news-hyped Rita. Ah, the Flood Stud: He of prematurely gun-metal gray hair, a childhood of privilege and pain, the now famous never-ending piercing blue eyes of a Malamute, designer suits that cling to him like America's love, on-air emotional breakdowns that remind a reeling nation of the compassionate television news journalists of yesteryear. It seems everyone and their brother is obsessed with The Flood Stud.

So while CBS is asking its interns what to do about its near-dead Nightly News, the news media is calling Cooper's response to Katrina a breakthrough for journalism and fans of Coop are saying he's a shoo-in for either of the vacant anchor spots on CBS or ABC. You might not be a CBS intern, but what do you think CBS/ABC should do with their evening news?

Yahoo just posted the news three hours ago that R&B great D'Angelo, born Michael Eugene Archer, was in critical condition last Monday, Sept. 19, after an SUV accident outside his hometown of Richmond, Virginia (here's a photo of the vehicle). "Officials at Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center, where the Grammy-winning artist was flown after the wreck, said the family had asked that his condition not be released," reads the story. There are a few more details in the Richmond Times Dispatch, which reports that D'Angelo was still at the hospital on Friday, but that the other person in the car (police won't say who was driving) was released. A search of D'Angelo's Okayplayer site and its message board turns up little news. Without drawing conclusions, two things are certain: First, D'Angelo is a great recording and performing artist. Second, he has a serious problem. UPDATE ON TUESDAY: Email from Alan Leeds at Complicated Fun. ABC News: "D'Angelo ready to record after SUV crash." To recap the past few years...

Local experimental-eclectic-electronic artist Martin Dosh will be sitting in with Andrew Bird, accompanying the violinist and former Bowl of Fire frontman (now on Righteous Babe records) on drums and Rhodes, at the Cedar Cultral Center on Friday, September 23rd. The two artists are known for their one-man bands and multi-tracking, but Bird was so intrigued by Dosh's skills and latest instrumental album, Pure Trash, he invited Dosh to open for and play with him on his fall tour.

Dosh also is gearing up for the release of a new album, Powder Horn, with a CD-release show at the Hexagon on October 21. Check out the ultracool Dosh family web site here.

The Guthrie Theater's Joe Dowling, after reportedly conducting a national seach and auditioning more than 150 actors, announced today that Santino Fontana will play the title role in Hamlet.

Fontana, a 2004 graduate of the University of Minnesota, is 23 years old, and Dowling cited his ability to portray "the insecurities of youth" in the role. The production of Hamlet will start previews on March 4 and run through May 7--forty-three years to the date of the theater's opening with Hamlet (directed by Tyrone Guthrie and starring George Grizzard in the title role). Fontana is a hometown pick who has appeared on the Guthrie stage before, in roles in Death of a Salesman, Six Degrees of Separation, and As You Like It. Dowling directs the fourth overall production of Hamlet at the Guthrie, one during each decade of the theater's existence except for the '90's (perhaps the gloomy drama didn't fit those halcyon days).

With devotees frantic to save the club that introduced the world to the Ramones, the Talking Heads, and Blondie, we decided to ask for an opinion closer to home. Coincidentally, a few TC bands (come on, the Hold Steady are just as much ours as Brooklyn's) played their first (and maybe last) show at CBGB on Saturday for the CMJ Music Marathon.

Craig Finn, the Hold Steady
How was your first show at CBGB?
It was a lot of fun. It was a ragged set, a bit sloppy, but in hindsight it was the right set for the right moment.

Does the club have special significance for you?
I don't feel very nostalgic about the room, quite honestly. I would come down from Boston to see shows there in the early to mid '90s, but since moving here about five years ago there have been very few shows that I have thought about attending there. It doesn't seem like they attempt to compete with the other clubs here that book national acts, put on cohesive bills, etc.

Historical value aside, how does it stack up against other venues?
The sound system at CBGB, however, still seems like the best in town. I do think that with better bathrooms and a slight overhaul, the club could be amazing. It's a great location, nice stage, good size, etc.

What do you think should happen to the club?
I'm not sure what should happen to it. If they can't draw people and pay their bills, then I think it should probably close. This may seem insensitive to the club's history, but there are other clubs within blocks of CBs that are thriving. And I do believe that the "magic" was brought to CBs by the Ramones, Television, Patti Smith, Blondie, etc., and not the room itself.

If you thought Mario and Luigi were careless with the tender ears of their juvenile viewers, check out this hysterical inneundo-laced clip from '70s and '80s British kids' show Rainbow. "Playing," indeed! Leave it to the Brits to trump us in cheekiness.

Like the Oscars, the Minnesota Music Academy's "Minnies" (or Minnesota Music Awards) at First Avenue tonight will be fun to participate in, fun to watch, and fun to make fun of (and I say this as someone onstage being made fun of). Somebody back me up: Aren't these things, you know, culturally interesting, as well as glam and tacky and all that? The past three years have been nothing if not a well-produced blast (Vegas meets flannel meets Prince in the bathroom), and this year promises the highest-profile evening yet for the MMAs, with hosts Mark Wheat and Lori Barbero, and performers Mint Condition, Spider John Koerner, Kid Dakota, Robert Robinson and the Twin Cities Community Gospel Choir, Desdamona with New Congress, Cloud Cult, Nachito Herrera, JoAnna James, Trampled by Turtles, and Stnnng. Presenters include Robyne Robinson, Willie Wisely, Chris Osgood, Dale Connelly, Sam Keenan, Michelle "Nadine Dubois" Langner, Dakota Dave Hull, Dave Campbell, Ross Raihala, Chris Reimenschneider, Jen Boyles, Diablo Cody, Chuck Statler, Lori Barghini, David de Young, Joey Molland, Phil Harder and Rick Fuller, Mei Young, Jason Nagel, Lars Larson, Rex Sorgatz (will he, or won't he, wear the shirt?), Lindsey Thomas (not Lindsay), Pete Scholtes, and Tina Schlieske (who's playing an acoustic preview of her forthcoming CD on Friday in the Entry). The 25th Annual Minnesota Music Awards Ceremony, Wednesday, September 21, 2005. 701 First Avenue North, Minneapolis, MN 55403-1327. Doors 7:00 p.m./showtime 8:00 p.m. $10 advance/$12 door, MMA members free, MPR members get $5 off door price.

Graffiti artist Chris Allen (the guy onstage at Slum Village and DJ Premier) has gone mainstream with a giant legal wall owned by Clyde Bellecourt and a nod from C.J. in today's Star-Tribune. With work gracing the cover of Industry a few issues back, he's also designing the cover of Unknown Prophets' forthcoming album. There's not nearly enough documentation of this scene, so get out there with a digital camera and start a website already. Meanwhile, some links at complicatedfun.com/hiphop: a nice Google map of Minneapolis graffiti, a short film at Media 2017 (bottom, left), Firestorm Minneapolis graffiti site, some local '90s graffiti , Juxtaposition Arts school, Intermedia Arts gallery, graffiti pages at DUNation.com, local graffiti photos by Meg Holle, Minneapolis graffiti photos at J3s, old photos at the TC Old-School Hip Hop Page, and the police view at the Minneapolis graffiti removal page and the St. Paul anti-graffiti page. Here's an argument I started at DUNation about the artistic merits of tagging. My point stands: Some old buildings are art, too. More discussion at DU.

This clip from '80s kiddie program The Super Mario Brothers Super Show has been making the rounds among snickering Gen-Y types. The clip features everyone's favorite Italian plumber murmuring a certain vulgar expression under his breath--and it ain't "Holy cannoli." Pair this shocking discovery with the fact that the actor playing Mario closely resembles Ron Jeremy, and you've got a potent one-two punch to your already endangered innocence. What's next, a low-res video of Princess Toadstool screwing Rick Salomon?

I could be wrong in my belief that tonight's Bush speech (parts one and two on CNN) signals a cultural sea change after the New Orleans disaster (mentioning "poverty" and "racial discrimination" in concecutive sentences, for starters). But consider the responses at Littlegreenfootballs.com, the most fiercely loyal corner of pro-Bush conservative bloggerdom, where amid the usual Nagin- and Blanco-bashing you could hear the old familiar strains of common-sense American socialism. After some initial qualms...

I cringed at Bush saying that Americans have a right to expect so much from the Feds, not in my opinion. We have a local gov't for a reason. I didn't like all the Big Government stuff in this speech. If it helps Bush in the public's opinion, and helps the GOP next elections, then I guess I'll have to stomach this.

The commentary ran more and more like so...

This speech is a classic example of the "capitalist imperialists" being the only nation which can afford socialist planning on a grand scale. Mixed economies tilted towards the private sector aren't sexy, but they work...

September is like Christmas for television's super-heavy users. The airwaves hum with promise. Entertainment rags tease us with exhaustive fall previews. Backsliding movie actors headlining doomed sitcoms insist that they've "always wanted to do TV." Even though we've groaned through this song-and-dance before, September still feels magical, somehow. Network elves struggle adorably with last-minute packaging, affixing shiny bows to their rancid mincemeat. George Lopez's belly shakes like a bowlful of jelly. And we, the eager viewers, can't wait to tear into this year's premieres. Geena Davis as the first female President? Bring it on! Denise Richards as an Amanda Woodward-esque bitch on wheels? Hooray! Jennifer Love Hewitt with the ability to see dead people? Thank you, Santa!

Just got home from seeing Amsterdam's ISH company perform 4-ISH at Children's Theatre Company. The show features about ten young people performing skate tricks, breakdancing, tapdancing on in-line skates, doing what can only be described as extreme-sports dancing, and showing off martial-arts moves. In other words, it is Nirvana for eight-year-old boys (though there were certainly plenty enough girls in attendance, who knew a cool-fest when they saw one).

Forget Mos Def's silly, U2-bashing "Katrina Clap" and Skillbill's pointlessly politic "Blue Monday", which are each as opportunistic as Legendary K.O.'s "George Bush Doesn't Care About Black People" without being nearly as funny (see below), and are each as creatively helpless given the subject as Prince's "S.S.T." without being being nearly as pretty (click all the songs here to listen). The best new Katrina tracks are as urgent as a phone call to FEMA: Public Enemy's spine-tingling, Nagin-sampling blast of angry righteousness "Hell No We Ain't Alright!" follows a plug for the next Million Man March with Flavor Flav promising, "We're sending trucks, we're sending boats, boxes, cans of soup, everything... Don't worry, y'all ain't by yourself." The various Dallas rappers on "Gulf Coast 5:45," meanwhile, offer an equally impassioned shoutout to Katrina victims, with an R&B melody starting (humanly enough) with the line, "I really don't know what to say." The lineup includes Christy B, O'Neal, TopCat, Mack Larry, and D-Texas of On a Mission Records. Now will somebody get a benefit CD together? Don't miss Davey D's hip-hop mix of Katrina sounds (thanks Hiphopmusic.com). But what I'd really like to hear: These rappers sampling/collaborating with these brass bands. UPDATES: Comedian Boima Freeman has a Kayne/hurricane spoof of his own here. And Cocaineblunts.com has a Bounce For Relief CD you should own. Philadelphia's Hollowman and Nickels have their own New Orleans tribute song.

Attorneys for Garrison Keillor have sent a cease and desist letter to the local blog MNSpeak.com: "It has come to our attention that you are marketing T-shirts bearing the words, 'A Prairie Ho Companion,'" the letter says. "We believe that your use of these words creates a likelihood that the public will be confused as to the sponsorship of the T-shirt and our client's services and products." Frankly, we didn't even remember the stupid shirts--now a rare and hot commodity--until MNSpeak's Rex Sorgatz told us about the August 29 communication (off the record) and recounted his responding phone call to Keillor's legal team, which MNSpeak now makes public: "This is going to make your client look extremely out of touch," Sorgatz says he told Keillor's lawyer. "I'll even write the headline for you: 'Liberal Comedian Sues Blogger.'" Can you say "ho ho ho" all the way to national media exposure? UPDATE: This is not a Prairie Home Companion T-shirt

Katrina was given a New Orleans funeral in Houston last Thursday at Sammy's, the club now being called "Treme, Texas" in homage to the flooded NOLA neighborhood. According to our Houston Press colleague John Nova Lomax, the ceremony included a parade marshal in a "Katrina" sash and a performance by second-line greats the New Birth Brass Band.

New Birth's friends and neighbors the ReBirth Brass Band, meanwhile, played an exhilarating set at the Cabooze in Minneapolis on Saturday for a crowd that included at least 20 evacuees. "Katrina took my house, my car, she took every material thing from me," said trumpet player Shamar Allen. "But you know one thing she can't take from me is my music."

Injecting humor into an otherwise poignant event, ReBirth covered TLC's "Waterfalls" to a round of laughter, dedicated the Rolling Stones' "It's All Over Now" to the hurricane, and riffed on the Gilligan's Island theme (a tribute to the late Bob Denver)...

A new episode of FOX's Family Guy entitled "Perfect Castaway" was scheduled to debut this Sunday but will be shelved due to a couple of references to a hurricane. Apparently, even Family Guy has its limits. The episode will be replaced with another new episode entitled "Peter's Got Wood." Oh, and, if you missed it, here's that awesome Ipecac scene from a recent episode. Barftastic!

Today's Star-Tribune quotes part-time New Orleans resident Dave Pirner of Soul Asylum as saying, "There probably isn't a better act to capture what people are feeling and hit a positive note about it than ReBirth." The good news is that these New Orleans second-line kings (interviewed in today's City Pages on page 37) are still on for their Saturday benefit show at the Cabooze with Jack Brass Band, whose Mike Olander has organized a charity fund specifically for New Orleans brass band musicians. Meanwhile, local R&B greats Mint Condition have been added to Sunday's Katrina benefit show at the Fine Line, co-hosted by I Self Devine and Felix from Heiruspecs (Mint play at 7:00 p.m.). On the same evening, New Orleans jazz percussionist Bill Summers, of Los Hombres Calientes, has just now been confirmed to play the Dakota (where Dr. John road out the storm) at 6:00 p.m. (Sunday), sitting in with the Girls an hour later. See the complete schedule of Katrina benefit shows at Complicatedfun.com.

Here's a wonderful, Kanye West- (and hence Ray Charles-) sampling remix of West's notorious comment (you have seen the hilarious video of that, right?) produced by the Legendary K.O. with words by Big Mon and Damien, a.k.a. Dem Knock-Out Boyz. Listen as you read the Times of London: Business elite hopes for a future without the poor (Blotter commentary here). Those and many more updates to Wednesday's and today's post at Complicated Fun.

The third annual City Pages Wing Fling will take place tonight at the Minneapolis Farmers Market. The event will feature live entertainment from Friends Like These, Trailer Trash, and Sarah Notley, along with wings and signature dishes from Twin Cities restaurants such as Nardies Cafe, Joe's Garage, Daddy Wings, West Indies Soul and St. Louis Park Tavern to name a few. Patrons attending the City Pages Wing Fling will have the opportunity to vote for their favorite wings and crown one vendor "The Wing King." More information here.